


Washing Away Fear

by ImaKaraTabiHe



Series: Speedster Family [34]
Category: Justice League - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: (author is not an expert on these events), Earthquakes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Obsession, Islands, Maldives, Natural Disasters, Running Away, Victim Blaming, Water, tsunami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 03:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12423807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaKaraTabiHe/pseuds/ImaKaraTabiHe
Summary: Wally finds out Jeff's fate and ends up going to the Maldives to spend some time with Roy.  Things don't turn out so well.





	Washing Away Fear

The smell of salt water assaulted him with its heavy, invading smell. Wally wishes he could drown in it – the scent, not the water. Wally West does _not_ want to fall into the water. He can swim. He can, really! He just can't  take the resistance. Water slows speed. It drains the speed away, and for a Speedster, that's the last thing he wants to experience.

..And he might've almost drowned once, already. Hey, when it happens, it happens, but the goal is to not let it happen.

Which is why Wally doesn't stop running until he's made it to the Maldives.

The place is a paradise. Warm beaches, cool breezes, dolphins… Yet even the sounds of the local wildlife mixed in with distant sounds of civilizations can't make the words stop echoing in his head.

“ _Hey, Kid!”_

_Wally turns around, frowning as one of the detectives from his uncle's work jog over to him. “Hi, Mr….”_

“ _Bringham. Heard about what happened to that neighbor of your uncle's – Jeff Mackle, was it?” Wally frowned. 'What?' He's not sure he's following._

“ _What?”_

“ _Something about the dude getting obsessed with you,” Mr. Bringham shrugged. “Your uncle lobbied for jail time, but they put the guy in the looney bin.” The man eyes Wally. “You really got to that guy. Maybe try keeping to yourself next time, yeah?”_

_Wally blinked. 'Keep...what to himself?' He looks at his hands like they've got the answer, but the detective snorts._

“ _What I mean, kid, is that you've gotta stop whatever it is you do to attract those kind of people,” he tells Wally._

“ _ **Stop whatever it is you do to attract those kind of people.”**_

'What does that mean?' Wally can't help but think as those words spin in his head. He's not doing that. Right? Did he… do something wrong? Was he not supposed to help the man?

A seagull cries, making him look up. “Do I attract bad people?” he questions out loud.

“Hey!” Wally's head snaps down, eyes rolling to the horizon as a familiar figure walks through the palm trees. “You going to stand there all day? I thought that was impossible for Speedsters. Are you sure you're my friend?”

Wally's lips quirk in a smile as he forces the dark thoughts out of his head. “Roy-boy!” He speeds over to Roy's side, kicking up sand in his wake and making Roy cough. “Oops!” He rubs the back of his neck, embarrassed as Roy waves the air. “Sorry, Roy!”

Roy coughs a bit more before he looks at Wally. “I thought you weren't going to make it before next week, Kid. What happened?”

Wally shrugs. He didn't really want to talk about it. “Needed to get some air. I've heard the air here is very good.”

It's not the air. They both know that, but Roy knows better than to question it further. “Well, the water's pretty nice here too. You going to stay in that outfit or are we going to walk around the town and get some fresh coconut milk?”

There's a whoosh, and Wally's standing there, grinning. “So… are you coming?”

“Chill, Speed Demon,” Roy says. “I'm right behind you.” He wraps an arm around Wally's shoulder and starts walking him to the town. “Now… Have you ever had shark?...”

Wally, as it just so happens, hates shark. Give him a pizza or a burger any day. Roy just laughs when he tells him as much. At least, the guy buys him some ice cream afterwards. Green tea.

And of course, that's when everything goes up in flames.

Wally frowns as he looks at a glass of water. It feels a bit like a hum in the air as he watches the liquid sway. “Is that supposed to happen?” he asks, pointing at it with a dirty spoon.

Roy raises an eyebrow, confused as he follows Wally's spoon.

Honestly, Wally knows it's not, but sometimes he's just got to ask to make sure he's not crazy.

“No,” Roy answers, face becoming serious. “That's not.”

And then it hits. Everything sways. The road buckles and the sound of buildings cracking almost covers up all of the sounds of panicked screaming as things _fall._ Wally starts to fall and then Roy catches him and holds him tightly. “We've gotta help!” Wally yells.

Roy's face looks grim. “We do, but how can you run like this?” His arm blocks a sign from falling on Wally's head.

Wally picks himself up, wobbling a bit. “Obviously, you've never run on water before.” He quickly changes into Kid Flash and then, before Roy has time to reply, he's grabbing an older lady and pulling her from the path of a power line.

It's hard to start off each time as the ground buckles beneath him, but Wally manages. He pulls people from buildings on the brink of collapse and creates whirlwinds to stop debris from falling onto people.

And when it ends? It's been the longest couple of minutes in a long time for him, and it looks like, for others, it's been the longest minutes of their lives. It's over.

But it's not, is it?

“Arrow!” Wally calls, desperate over the sobbing of scared people and their families. He's not sure who he's supposed to be calling, really. But how would it look if Kid Flash is calling from some random, unmasked person?

“Kid! Over here!” a response comes.

He darts through the crowd, stopping in front of Roy, who's haphazardly thrown a mask on and armed himself. Roy's temple is bleeding slightly and he looks a bit dirty, but really, Wally's seen him look worse, so he's fine.

“You okay, Kid?” Roy asks, rubbing a sleeve across his bleeding temple.

“Well, I'm not bleeding,” Wally answers, tipping his head at the older teen's temple.

Roy scoffs. “Don't even go there.”

“Not going there. No chocolate there anyways,” Wally states, hands raised in surrender. “How big do you think that one was?”

“As far as earthquakes go? Not too bad, but I'm not sure how far it reached and from what direction. Can you -?”

“Go see how far the damage extends? On it.” Wally races off, checking the island for damages and helping people as he goes. The injured, he takes time to see to and ensures that someone is there to help them. There's a hospital that looks big enough, several stories high, and it looks to be brand new, so he directs anyone who can make it their themselves there.

It looks like the earthquake reaches all across the island, but the strength seemed to have died down in some areas. He follows the path of destruction as it gets worse and worse back to the harbor. The waves still slosh with power and the boats bob up and down in the water.

There's something about the water… Wally frowns. 'Is it getting lower?' And he's hit with a sudden horrible realization that makes him feel like he's sinking. “No.. N-no, no, no, no!” With wide eyes, he watches as birds fly away. _I need to get back to Roy!_

It's a zip, but he's there, standing in front of Roy. “We've got some problems...”

Roy gives him a look. “What?” he asks, suspiciously. He's afraid of the answer.

“I think the earthquake caused a… “

An alarm blares.

“..tsunami.” Wally winces as the sound grows louder.

Only moments later, Roy is up and calling out to the people. “Okay! Everyone needs to get to higher ground! Find somewhere tall and just get going! Hurry!” He's as demanding as ever. Not quite a leader, but very gruff and… well, he inspires people with fear and violence. It shows that he cares. He's emotional abrasive, but he does care.

He's the one that Wally would want by his side if he got lost. Him and Dick.

“There's a hospital a few miles back that looks like it could hold. We need to get everyone to the rooftop,” Wally explains as he helps someone up. He looks into Roy's eyes. “Get everyone you can there. I'll be right behind you.”

“You better, Kid.” Roy claps his shoulder, squeezing tightly before he's off, plucking up a child and yelling at people to head to the hospital.

Time slows down, and he watches his friend lead people away, getting lost in the crowd. He just watches, hoping his friend makes it. “Be safe,” he whispers into the void of frozen time.

And then he turns and runs. He stops at several places, directing people to the hospital, picking up young ones, injured ones and shoving them into the hands of those that can make it without help. “Just keep going,” Wally urges them.

When the last person stumbles out of sight towards the hospital, he searches buildings and houses. Wally stops to look at a cabin, clearly decorated for tourists that looks too expensive for everyone except people like Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen. There's a dolphin engraving along the railings that looks beautiful up until the large cracks.

The sound of crying grabs his attention and he runs into the house. It's a little boy, curled up with dust on his hair, sobbing in the corner. “Hey there, kid,” Wally murmurs gently, bending down in front of him.

“Y-you're Kid Flash!” the boy stutters with awe.

“That's me, kid. You okay? Can you stand?”

The boy shakes his head. “I-I can't find my mom.”

Wally reaches down and picks him up, feeling the boy wrap his arms and legs around his form. “Sssh… We'll find her okay?” The sirens stop, making Wally freeze. Something roars in the distance, getting closer and closer.

His head turns towards the window. “We've got to go… Just hang on tightly,” Wally says, tucking the boy's face into his neck and then running without a second thought. Yeah, he can outrun a wave. Normally.

This isn't a normal situation though. He's got a kid clinging to him for dear life. He can't go super fast. The child won't be safe if he speeds too much, so he has not choice but to go slower.

Wally dodges trees and downed lines as he gets further into town. He looks back for a moment, and he can see the water gaining on him. It looks slow at first, but once it swallows something up, you can see how _fast_ it is.

Gulping, Wally picks up the speed just a little bit more. Until he sees someone. The person is standing there, staring at the water coming. Wally swears until his breath as he shifts the boy and just lifts the man onto his shoulder and keeps going.

They weigh him down, but he persists. When they arrive at the hospital, Wally knows he won't make it up the stairs carrying them. He puts the man down and shoves the boy into his arms. “Go! Now!” he barks until the man finally starts running into the hospital and up the stairs.

Wally turns to make one last look see, and then suddenly, there's water. He loses traction and falls face first into the growing level of water. His hand reaches out and grabs onto the railing and he clings tightly to it.

There's water up his nose as he yells. “Arrow!” Wally should've kept going with them. He's not even sure the two made it up there. “Arrow!”

Something falls from the roof of the building. “Kid!” Wally looks up. Roy's dangling from one of Robin's repellers – the thief. “Grab my hand!”

Wally struggles, but it's so hard to fight against the flow. “Hurry! You can do it!” With Roy's last bit of encouragement, Wally fights the water and grabs Roy's hand. Water clings to him, making him heavy, but Roy just keeps pulling him up until Wally can wrap his arms around his form, teeth chattering from the sudden cool air.

The repeller pulls them up with a soft hum. Roy's arm is wrapped around his torso. “Kid, you okay? Kid?” he asks concerned.

“I hate the water,” Wally replies bitterly.

“Well, that explains the smell,” Roy jokes as he pulls them onto the hospital rooftop.

“Ha, ha, Roy. You're so funny,” Wally replies blandly.

“You forgot handsome and modest.”

“I forgot 'silly'.” Wally shakes his hands, drops of salt water falling down onto the roof. He looks down as the water flows passed them, debris floating by. There's the distinct sounds of cracking and emergency sirens wailing. 'Well.. this is going to be an utter mess to clean up.'

Looking back up, he glances around the rooftop. It's crowded with people. Wally hopes everyone made it. The boy he saved waves at him from what looks like the arms of his mother. Wally can't help but wave back with a smile.

_-beep!-_

Wally turns to Roy as the sound of the comm system alerts them to an incoming message from the League. “Yeah?” Roy questions, trying to sound cool despite the fact that Wally can still see his muscles shaking a little from exertions.

“Um.. Kid?” Roy's face looks concerned, worried… a little scared?

“Mm?” Wally hums, curious.

“...You didn't tell Flash you were coming here, did you?”

“Uh-oh...” That's going to be a nightmare for later. Right now, Wally plops down on the rooftop, looking over the edge and ignoring the fact that he's in for a huge lecture when his uncle finds him. All he can do for the moment, is just wait for the water to recede.

“We're going to talk about this later,” Roy tells him, sitting down beside him.

“M'kay,” Wally agrees, leaning his head on Roy's shoulder as the watch the horrific spectacle below them. Later was later, after all. Here? He was safe with Roy, and that's what he took comfort in.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, All~ Sorry, it's been so long since I've put up a fic for this series. I'm easily distracted with other series. I started several fics for this series, but I was never quite able to bring them to life. I'm not quite sure how this one turned out, but maybe it'll be okay? Haha, I'm never sure, huh?
> 
> Anyways~ Hope you are all doing okay!
> 
> Thanks~
> 
> tumblr: tabihe


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